


It'll Be Lonely This Christmas

by vix_spes



Category: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas Fluff, Co-Parenting, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Family Feels, Good Parent Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, M/M, Melancholy, Soft Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:54:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28345707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vix_spes/pseuds/vix_spes
Summary: Geralt is dreading a Christmas without Ciri so Jaskier takes it upon himself to create an unforgettable festive season.
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion, Past Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg - Relationship, mentioned Istredd/Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg
Comments: 16
Kudos: 69
Collections: Geraskier Holiday Exchange 2020





	It'll Be Lonely This Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tumtummeke](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tumtummeke/gifts).



> Tumtummeke, I tried to combine elements of both of your prompts and had a lot of fun with this ... I hope you enjoy it!

Jaskier darted a quick glance over at Geralt and didn’t like what he saw. He tried not to drag Geralt to too many concerts. Obviously, Geralt came to Jaskier’s own concerts but there were only so many times that Geralt could listen to Christmas stuff so Jaskier didn’t have too many expectations at this time of the year. When it came to student concerts, there were no expectations of his lover but this concert was always an exception as Ciri was one of the performers. Jaskier had been a little leery of starting to date the dad of a student – everything about it screamed ‘bad idea’ – but Geralt had convinced him and, well, Ciri was such a delight that Jaskier hadn’t regretted it. Honestly, her musical skills were genuinely impressive when you realised that Geralt was completely and utterly tone deaf.

Geralt had been absolutely fine this afternoon when Jaskier had left him to start rehearsals for the concert and the only thing that had happened since then that Jaskier was aware of, was that Geralt had had dinner with Yennefer, Ciri and Yennefer’s new (ish) boyfriend. So, logic implied that something had happened at dinner. Ciri had seemed absolutely fine but then that child was a ball of sunshine (and the occasional squall of temper) so that wasn’t really anything to go by.

Almost as though sensing his thoughts, it was Ciri’s turn to perform which meant that Jaskier had to concentrate even more than normal because it was Ciri. Any teacher that told you they didn’t have favourites was a liar. Ciri had been Jaskier’s favourite since he had taken over the class and long before he had realised that her dad resembled the earthly reincarnation of some Greco-Roman god. Sending an encouraging smile to his little blonde menace as she stepped forward, Jaskier started playing the introduction.

She was fantastic.

Just as Jaskier had expected she would be. Perhaps not note perfect but she had the composure and poise to pull it off (Jaskier was magnanimous to credit Yennefer with that) and the best stage presence of everyone (Jaskier was taking the credit for that one). She also had the biggest cheers of everyone given that, as the proud parents, both Yennefer and Geralt had dragged along everyone they knew just as they did for every school nativity, sports day and any other event they could think of. Jaskier may not be able to shout or cheer, but he did send Ciri a wink and a huge grin as she moved back to her seat.

It wasn’t until later that night, when they were curled up under the covers that Jaskier finally found out the reason for Geralt’s sudden melancholy.

“Alright, what’s the matter?”

“Yen’s taking Ciri away for Christmas.”

Ah, that explained things.

All things considered, Geralt and Yennefer had a very amicable relationship, particularly when you considered how volatile their relationship had been when they were actually together. Their ability to get on with each other was never more apparent than where their daughter was concerned, and they co-parented much better than some of the married parents of Jaskier’s students.

“Ah.”

“Apparently Istredd has booked a cabin for them in the Alps or the Pyrenees or somewhere with snow. Skiing or something. They’ll be away for the whole week until New Year’s.”

Jaskier didn’t say anything, simply carded his hand through Geralt’s hair in what he knew was a soothing manner for the older man.

“They’re not going until Christmas Day, so Yen has said that I can have Ciri on Christmas Eve and she can stay over, and we’ll Skype or FaceTime every day then I’ll get her New Year’s Eve but … I don’t know.” Geralt huffed, “it’ll be a lonely Christmas, I suppose.”

There was silence and then Geralt huffed out a breath. “Fuck. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. Not lonely. You know me and words…”

“Not the closest of acquaintances, I know, dear heart. Christmas with me is not the same as Christmas with Ciri.” Jaskier pressed a smacking kiss to the top of Geralt’s head, “we’ll just have to ensure that we have the best Christmas possible with Ciri on Christmas Eve and in the run up to it then, won’t we?”

“Hmm,” Geralt’s response was buried against Jaskier’s chest as Geralt burrowed into him.

For his own part, Jaskier started plotting. He needed to speak to Yennefer and Ciri. And fast. He was going to plan so many things that there wasn’t going to be any opportunity for Geralt to feel remotely lonely.

~*~

Winter Wonderland was something of a tradition for them and had been ever since Ciri was about four years old and Jaskier wanted to get into his partners daughters’ good books. Yennefer hated the London seasonal staple and so it was very much their thing; Ciri, Geralt and Jaskier. Every year, the three of them would brave the crowds and spend too much money on overpriced rides and junk food while consuming far too much sugar.

This year was no different. In fact, if anything, they were going even more over the top as though it would make up for the fact that Ciri wouldn’t be with them on Christmas Day. They had started out with the ice show, Geralt bitching about the ticket prices, but had been worth it for the look of glee on Ciri’s face and, no doubt, she’d be asking for ice-skating lessons soon enough to go with the swimming, dancing, horse-riding and martial arts lessons she already took.

Ciri ate a burger as big as her head, Geralt sent Jaskier a filthy look that promised all sorts of delightful things later when Jaskier bought a hot dog from the Beer Kellar and rolled his eyes with fondness when Jaskier got as invested in the carousel as Ciri. They screamed so loudly on the Waltzers that they nearly threw up, Jaskier and Ciri held firmly in place by Geralt’s ridiculous biceps and promptly ate an entire bag of cotton candy straight after, ignoring Geralt’s warnings. Just as every year, Geralt was such a crack shot at the games booths that three vendors threatened to ban him and Ciri ended up a stuffed white wolf toy almost as big as she was. Said toy then proceeded to get smeared chocolate as they had one final feast of waffles with Nutella and whipped cream, Geralt and Jaskier sharing a sweet kiss beneath the Luminaires.

Ciri demanded hot chocolate with everything and Jaskier had joined in the chorus, relishing the long-suffering look on Geralt’s face. Given that Ciri also wanted to go on one last rollercoaster before they left, they managed to distract her with a wander through the Angel Village as they searched for a present for Yennefer. They weren’t successful - Ciri was an exacting present buyer and couldn’t find anything that would meet Yennefer’s equally exacting standards - but they did find a stall with an abundance of amusing hats. Jaskier posed and pouted for a number of photos in a foppish purple velvet monstrosity with a feather that had Ciri giggling but the highlight for both of them was persuading Geralt into a rather ridiculous lion number that he seemed strangely taken with. Enough that, while Ciri dragged Geralt off for the promised hot chocolate, Jaskier bought the lion hat secretly; maybe Geralt could wear it for his morning runs or something.

Ciri was completely tuckered out from sugar and excitement by the time they left, leaving at the same time as hordes of twenty and thirty-somethings, arriving from work. Geralt had to carry her, one sugar sticky hand tangled in his hair and the other holding the huge stuffed wolf that hit Geralt in the back of the head with every step he took.

Judging from the smile on Geralt’s face though, he didn’t care one bit and he didn’t even bat an eyelid as Jaskier pulled out his phone and snapped photo after photo, sending several of them to Yennefer.

Part one; success.

~*~

Jaskier didn’t usually do carol concerts. An occupational hazard of being a musician, especially of being a singer. A) you had sung all of the songs a million times yourself and never wanted to hear them again and B) you could never turn off your training and so you were always hyper-critical of every single tiny mistake. It could really take the enjoyment out of an evening. Nevertheless, he had heard good things about the Battersea carol concert and could you really go wrong with anything where Sue Perkins was a presenter? Plus, mulled wine and cute animals was always good.

The church – some place off Kings Road and thus in the poshest part of Chelsea – was beautifully decorated and completely sold out. Of course, most of the guests were the type that you would see around Chelsea and so they stuck out like a sore thumb but Jaskier was nothing if not a showman and simply stared down anyone who had the gall to look at them with disdain. Jaskier also had to concede that the choir were quite good. Obviously, he got completely and utterly irrationally irritated when it came to the audience participation numbers but that was nothing new. Instead, he relished in the proud look that Geralt wore as several people turned around at Jaskier’s singing.

The problem came at the end of the evening. Well, it had threatened to divert the beginning of the evening but Jaskier had been running late so they had managed to side-step that one. At the end of the evening, there were plenty of Battersea volunteers not only walking around with cups of mulled wine and mince pies, but also with cats and dogs that lived at Battersea, trying to convince patrons to buy tickets for the raffle or to sponsor an animal.

Jaskier was rather taken with most of them but one, in particular, caught his attention and held it.

“Geralt!! Look at it! Can we adopt it?”

“I think you’ve had too much mulled wine.”

"That wasn't a no…"

It was a tiny, black kitten and Geralt had never seen an uglier or a more bad-tempered creature in his entire life. Honestly? He wasn’t exactly surprised that this animal hadn’t been rehomed yet. He was surprised that the volunteers from Battersea had thought fit to bring it to an event such as this. It looked as though it had gone six rounds in a fight and not come out on the winning side. Any time that anyone got even remotely close to it, the creature hissed and swiped with tiny yet vicious claws.

Well, with one exception.

The little hell-creature had just drawn blood from at least three people and the volunteers from Battersea were hovering, exchanging anxious glances and clearly planning on taking him away. And then Jaskier approached him. Geralt was ready for the theatrics when he got swiped by a set of tiny claws. He was not ready for the hellspawn to turn into the perfect kitten that everyone wanted to take home, nuzzling up under Jaskier’s neck and purring like an engine. Everyone around them was waiting with bated breath for it to revert and take a chunk out of Jaskier, opening up an artery or something. Instead, it just licked his cheek and snuggled closer.

Geralt wasn't remotely surprised when that night, Jaskier snoring softly next to him, he found himself looking at Battersea's requirements if you wanted to adopt one of their animals.

~*~

The kitchen was a complete and utter disaster.

Geralt didn’t think that he’d ever seen a kitchen looking this much of battleground and he’d seen Lambert’s flat when he attempted to cook for Aiden the first time. He was pretty certain that Jaskier had used nearly every single bowl and implement in the kitchen. There were cupboard doors hanging open and a puddle of something below the fridge. It also looked as though Jaskier was wearing as much flour as there was in the bowl.

“Umm, Jaskier? What are you trying to do?”

“Bake a Christmas cake? According to Twitter, it was stir-up Sunday weeks ago and we should have made the cake then. And the Christmas pudding. That’s when it’s traditional. Do you think we need to use exactly the same fruit that it mentions in the recipe? Or can we use anything?”

“Umm, what…” There was streak of batter on Jaskier’s cheek that was tempting Geralt, making him want to lick it off.

“Pass the whisky, would you?"

Geralt handed over the bottle and then stared as Jaskier proceeded to just drink several large glugs straight from the bottle. "Isn't that supposed to go in the cake?"

"There's plenty of whisky; enough for me and the cake. Fuck! Don’t judge me the whisky, Geralt! This is far more stressful than I thought it would be. Is there a difference between self-raising and plain flour? Or can I use this? It says it’s potato flour… fuck! Why is this so difficult? Why are you smiling at me like that?”

Geralt crossed the kitchen, avoiding piles of either sugar or flour, a smear of butter and cupped Jaskier’s cheeks in two broad hands, swiping away the smudge on one cheek. He kissed Jaskier on the lips before pulling back. A quick lick to Jaskier’s cheek confirmed that yes, it was a smear of batter albeit one that had Geralt wincing.

“Did you definitely put sugar in the cake or was it salt?”

“Fuuuuuuuuucccck!”

~*~

Completely unsurprisingly, Christmas Day had been quiet. They had known it would be. They had done their big celebration the previous day with Ciri with an almost obnoxious number of presents and a truly indecent amount of food. They had gone ice-skating on the rink outside the Natural History Museum and returned home for pudding and to watch Elf before Yennefer picked Ciri up so they could drive to the airport. Boxing Day would be louder - spent with Geralt’s friends - but Christmas Day was theirs.

They didn't make it out of bed until late - something of a miracle for Geralt and more normal for Jaskier - and when they did it was to a London miracle; snow. Outside their window lay a veritable Winter Wonderland.

"Needn't have gone to Austria," Geralt grumbled as he nosed at the back of Jaskier’s neck. "Plenty of snow here. We could have seen Ciri today."

“Grumpy,” Jaskier turned his head and kissed the part of Geralt’s face that he could reach, “pretty sure there isn’t enough snow to ski in Greenwich Park though.”

“Hmm.”

They just about made it out of bed and into the kitchen as Ciri Skyped them although Yennefer’s arched eyebrow said that she knew exactly what they had been up to five minutes before. Geralt refused to respond and focused on Ciri’s excited chatter while Jaskier fought not to blush and squirm under Yennefer’s stare. It was Christmas morning – surely sleepy sex under the covers while there was snow outside was obligatory? At least, that’s what the Hallmark movies made out, even if they didn’t show the sex.

When they had hung up with Ciri and finished their breakfast, they had taken a long walk in the snow on Hampstead Heath, Jaskier buried under numerous knitted items and Geralt wearing the ridiculous lion hat, before they had returned home to warm up under several blankets, Netflix playing a seemingly never-ending stream of cheesy Christmas films and with leftovers piled on a table. They were nearly halfway through the first film when Geralt spoke.

“Thank you.”

“Hmm?” Jaskier turned his head from where he was snuggled up against Geralt’s chest, blankets wrapped around them. “What did you say?”

“Thank you," Geralt paused before he spoke again, "I should have known that I wouldn't be lonely this Christmas, that you wouldn't let me. It's been strange without Ciri but not lonely. That's all thanks to you."

A yowl from down near their feet and pinpricks of claws in his calf dragged Geralt's lips from Jaskier’s. "Yes, and you, as well, you damned menace."

He'd adopted the cat, of course he had. Roach as he'd named her, despite the cries from both Jaskier and Ciri that it was an awful name, had joined the family just in time for Christmas. Even now, she proceeded to claw her way up Geralt’s leg and thigh only to start purring the second that she was in proximity to Jaskier and his magic fingers. Making sure that he stayed out of distance from Roach, Geralt leaned in to kiss Jaskier sweetly, once, twice, and again, lingering slightly longer each time.

No, not lonely this Christmas. Not in the slightest.

**Author's Note:**

> You definitely cannot adopt an animal from Battersea in the short amount of time that I've depicted but wibbly-wobbly hand-wavey fan-fiction and it's all good!


End file.
